2nd November 1947: Howard Hughes (1905-1976) in the cockpit of his 219 ft flying boat HK-1, known as the 'Spruce Goose', on the day scheduled for testing when the plane made its only flight.

Photo: Keystone, Getty Images

2nd November 1947: Howard Hughes (1905-1976) in the cockpit of his...

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UNITED STATES - JANUARY 01: President Roosevelt Giving The Harmon Trophy To Howard Hughes In Washington.

Photo: KEYSTONE, Getty Images

UNITED STATES - JANUARY 01: President Roosevelt Giving The Harmon...

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American industrialist, aviator, and film producer Howard Hughes (1905 - 1976) climbs into the cockpit of his Northrop Gamma aircraft in preparation for breaking his own speed record for transcontinental US flight, Burbank, California, January 18, 1937. He landed in Newark, New Jersey, 7 hours, 28 minutes, and 25 seconds later, besting his 1936 record time by almost 2 hours.

Photo: Time Life Pictures, Getty Images

American industrialist, aviator, and film producer Howard Hughes...

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Stage and Screen, Business, Aviation, Personalities, pic: 1936, Millionaire American Howard Hughes pictured close to the time he was awarded the Harmon Trophy as the outstanding flyer of that year, Howard Hughes, (1905-1976) millionaire Businessman, Aviator and film Director/Producer was an eccentric who became a total recluse

Photo: Rolls Press/Popperfoto, Getty Images

Stage and Screen, Business, Aviation, Personalities, pic: 1936,...

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Howard Hughes sits in the cockpit of his new XF-11 plane, built in conjunction with the Army Air Material Command. It crashed on its flight, and Hughes was taken to a hospital with 3rd degree burns. It is reportedly one of the world's fastest planes and can attain speeds of over 400 mile per hour, Culver City, California, July 7, 1946.

Photo: Underwood Archives, Getty Images

Howard Hughes sits in the cockpit of his new XF-11 plane, built in...

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Stage and Screen, Business, Aviation, Personalities, pic: circa 1950, Millionaire American Howard Hughes, Howard Hughes, (1905-1976) millionaire Businessman, Aviator and film Director/Producer was an eccentric who became a total recluse

Photo: Popperfoto, Getty Images

Stage and Screen, Business, Aviation, Personalities, pic: circa...

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American millionaire film producer and aviator Howard Hughes (1905 - 1976) on his way to hospital in an ambulance after he crashed an experimental U.S. Army spy plane, the XF-11, in Beverly Hills, California, 7th July 1946. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

American millionaire film producer and aviator Howard Hughes (1905...

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NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - CIRCA 1938: The triumphal welcome of the American business man Howard Hughes at the end of his round the world aboard a plane invented by himself. New York, july 1938.

Photo: Roger Viollet Collection, Getty Images

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - CIRCA 1938: The triumphal welcome of the...

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Stage and Screen, Business, Aviation, Personalities, pic: 1930's, Millionaire American Howard Hughes pictured dancing with actress Ginger Rogers, Howard Hughes, (1905-1976) millionaire Businessman, Aviator and film Director/Producer was an eccentric who became a total recluse

Photo: Popperfoto, Getty Images

Stage and Screen, Business, Aviation, Personalities, pic: 1930's,...

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Stage and Screen, Business, Aviation, Personalities, pic: circa 1930's, Millionaire American Howard Hughes pictured shaving while speaking on the telephone, Howard Hughes, (1905-1976) millionaire Businessman, Aviator and film Director/Producer was an eccentric who became a total recluse

Photo: Popperfoto, Getty Images

Stage and Screen, Business, Aviation, Personalities, pic: circa...

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UNSPECIFIED - JANUARY 02: The American aviator and billionaire HOWARD HUGHES testing his new plane, an XF-11, around 1947.

Photo: KEYSTONE-FRANCE, Getty Images

UNSPECIFIED - JANUARY 02: The American aviator and billionaire...

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William Enyart (left), official timer for the National Aeronautic Association, shakes hands with American industrialist, aviator, and film producer Howard Hughes (1905 - 1976), Santa Ana, California, Spetember 13, 1935. Hughes had just set the speed record of 352 mph in an H-1 racer, a plane his company designed. In reaching the top speed, Hughes had run out of gas and crashed the plane, but, as seen here, he walked away unharmed.

Photo: New York Times Co., Getty Images

William Enyart (left), official timer for the National Aeronautic...

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CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES - APRIL 05: Howard Hughes meeting the press after his successful flight in the Hughes XF-11 reconnaissance plane.

Photo: George Lacks, Getty Images

CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES - APRIL 05: Howard Hughes meeting the...

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5th April 1947: Aviator and industrialist Howard Hughes (1905 - 1976), standing below a plane he was preparing to board and test pilot, the XF-11, which he designed and built for the Army Air Forces, Culver City, California. This was a duplicate XF-11 plane, as the original he was test piloting crashed, nearly taking his life, July 1946.

Photo: Hulton Archive, Getty Images

5th April 1947: Aviator and industrialist Howard Hughes (1905 -...

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CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES - APRIL 05: Howard Hughes (R) walking towards press following his successful flight in the Hughes XF-11 reconnaissance plane.

Photo: George Lacks, Getty Images

CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES - APRIL 05: Howard Hughes (R) walking...

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1947: Howard Hughes (1905 - 1976), the American aircraft manufacturer and film magnate, sitting in the XF 11, the sister-ship to the plane in which he almost lost his life.

Photo: Keystone, Getty Images

1947: Howard Hughes (1905 - 1976), the American aircraft...

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April 1947: American filmmaker, aviator and multi-millionaire Howard Hughes (1905 - 1976) by the XF-11 plane, which he designed and built himself.

Photo: Keystone, Getty Images

April 1947: American filmmaker, aviator and multi-millionaire...

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Howard Hughes
Born in Humble, the billionaire renaissance man (entrepreneur, aviator and aviation pioneer, aerospace engineer, film maker) became increasingly reclusive in the last 10 years of his life. When he died in 1976, his beard, hair, fingernails and toenails were so long that he was hard to recognize. His fingerprints had to be used to identify his body. He is buried in Houston’s Glenwood Cemetery.

Photo: CSU ARCHIVES EVERETT COLLECTION, AP

Howard Hughes Born in Humble, the billionaire renaissance man...

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Troubled billionaire Howard Hughes

Photo: handout

Troubled billionaire Howard Hughes

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One of Houston's most famous gravesites belongs to the notoriously reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes.

Photo: Sharon Steinmann, Chronicle

One of Houston's most famous gravesites belongs to the notoriously...

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American industrialist, aviator, and film producer Howard Hughes (1905 - 1976) waves to spectators as he boards a plane in Washington DC, late 1940s.

Photo: Frederic Lewis, Getty Images

American industrialist, aviator, and film producer Howard Hughes...

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American industrialist, aviator, and film producer Howard Hughes (1905 - 1976) sits in the cockpit of the Spruce Goose, a massive sea plane designed and built by Hughes, Los Angeles, November 6, 1947.

Photo: J. R. Eyerman, Getty Images

American industrialist, aviator, and film producer Howard Hughes...

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American industrialist, aviator, and film producer Howard Hughes (1905 - 1976) arrives in court, trailed by a police officer, during a legal case involving the screenwriter Paul Jarrico, who had been fired from RKO Studios (Hughes' company) following an investigation by the House Un-American Activities Committee, Los Angeles, California, 1952.

Photo: Hulton Archive, Getty Images

American industrialist, aviator, and film producer Howard Hughes...

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FRANCE - JULY 01: The American aviator Howard HUGHES being interviewed by French reporters upon his passage in Paris, a stop-over on his trip around the world in July 1938.

Photo: KEYSTONE-FRANCE, Getty Images

FRANCE - JULY 01: The American aviator Howard HUGHES being...

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UNITED STATES - CIRCA 1947: Millionaire Howard Hughes in cockpit of huge sea plane, the Spruce Goose, which he designed and built.

Photo: J. R. Eyerman, Getty Images

UNITED STATES - CIRCA 1947: Millionaire Howard Hughes in cockpit...

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UNITED STATES - JULY 23: Howard Hughes Arrival To New York On July 23Th 1938.

Photo: KEYSTONE, Getty Images

UNITED STATES - JULY 23: Howard Hughes Arrival To New York On July...

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UNITED STATES - JANUARY 01: American Aviator Howard Hughes

Photo: KEYSTONE, Getty Images

UNITED STATES - JANUARY 01: American Aviator Howard Hughes

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Studio portrait of American business executive, film producer and aviator Howard Hughes (1905 - 1976) in profile at age 16, 1921.

Photo: Hulton Archive, Getty Images

Studio portrait of American business executive, film producer and...

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Aviator, industrialist, and film producer Howard Hughes (1905 - 1976), seated at a desk with microphones and papers, listening with an earphone to his right ear, during a Congressional hearing, Washington DC, August 1947.

Photo: Hulton Archive, Getty Images

Aviator, industrialist, and film producer Howard Hughes (1905 -...

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2nd November 1947: Howard Hughes (1905-1976) talking to staff on board his 219 ft flying boat HK-1, known as the 'Spruce Goose', on the day scheduled for testing when the plane made its only flight.

Photo: Keystone, Getty Images

2nd November 1947: Howard Hughes (1905-1976) talking to staff on...

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New documents reveal Howard Hughes role in plot to steal Soviet submarine

The tale of Howard Hughes' secret involvement in a CIA scheme to retrieve a Soviet submarine from the ocean floor sounds preposterous.

But the agency itself recounts the incident in almost gleeful detail on its website:

"Imagine standing atop the Empire State Building with an 8-foot-wide grappling hook on a 1-inch-diameter steel rope," the CIA's website states in a 2012 entry about Project AZORIAN.

"Your task is to lower the hook to the street below, snag a compact car full of gold, and lift the car back to the top of the building," the intelligence agency continues. "On top of that, the job has to be done without anyone noticing. That, essentially, describes what the CIA did in Project AZORIAN, a highly secret six-year effort to retrieve a sunken Soviet submarine from the Pacific Ocean floor during the Cold War."

Now, the U.S. Department of State has released about 200 pages of declassified documents through its series entitled Foreign Relations of the United States.

The selection about the AZORIAN Project, National Security Policy, 1973-1976, is in Volume XXXV, which covers the years 1969-1976.

As noted in a State Department news release, the selection released March 14 is available for purchase through the U.S. Government Printing Office.

As described by the CIA, the sub sank in 1968 in the Pacific Ocean and, after the Soviets gave up trying to find it, U.S. crews tracked it down about 1,500 miles northeast of Hawaii, more than three miles below the surface.

In 1970, CIA engineers and contractors determined that the only technically feasible approach was to lift the sub with a large mechanical claw attached to a ship on the surface, according to the CIA.

"The ship would be called the Glomar Explorer, a commercial deep-sea mining vessel ostensibly built and owned by billionaire Howard Hughes, who provided the plausible cover story that his ship was conducting marine research at extreme ocean depths and mining manganese nodules lying on the sea bottom," the CIA's website states.

After six years of planning, the recovery mission in the summer of 1974 was only partly successful and by February 1975, reporters began publishing stories about it.

As shown in the newly released documents, U.S. officials had been fretting about how the Soviets would react if the U.S. made a second attempt to recover the sub, but it proved to be a moot point.

Strauss writes that on June 16, 1975, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger sent a memo to President Gerald Ford:

"It is now clear that the Soviets have no intention of allowing us to conduct a second mission without interference," Kissinger's memo stated. "A Soviet ocean-going tug has been on station at the target site since 28 March, and there is every indication that the Soviets intend to maintain a watch there. Our recovery system is vulnerable to damage and incapacitation by the most innocent and frequent occurrences at sea—another boat coming too close or 'inadvertently' bumping our ship ..."

And with that, Strauss writes, the $800 million AZORIAN Project was terminated.